I discovered SOHO-97=2000 B1 on January 24.
I had to leave work early on January 24 in order to pick up
my car which had been in
for servicing (an expensive business as several repairs were needed) and went straight
home afterwards as it was clear and I wanted to grab a bite to eat before it got dark.
I then cycled out to the Cambridge Observatories and got out the great Northumberland
refractor at around 17:50.
I observed 141P/Machholz 2 (a bit iffy at 13m), 114P/Wiseman-Skiff (glimpsed
with averted vision at 14m) and 1999 S4 (LINEAR) (not seen and [13.8). I could see
clearly several galaxies catalogued at 13m. I also observed a few binocular variables
and then thought about going bell-ringing (one of my other hobbies) at 19:30 as the
practice started at 19:00 and I would be late. However, I decided to
have a quick look at the SOHO images first on the IOA Starlink system. As soon as the
java loop had downloaded it was obvious that a Kreutz fragment was heading in towards
the sun. I immediately emailed Doug and Brian Marsden, though this one was so obvious
that I was sure there would have been prior claims. It turned out that there weren't
and Doug posted the discovery on his web page and quickly got the positions for Brian
to compute the orbit, which appeared on IAUC 7349 at 23:10. The comet peaked in
brightness at around 5th magnitude on the morning of January 25, and began to grow a
tail, but also to fade. It disappeared from the C3 frames but a ghostly image was
visible for a couple of hours on the C2 frames between 16:06 and 18:30.

Faint Kreutz fragment SOHO-98 (2000 B6) was discovered by Maik Meyer on January 29, however an
independent discovery was made by Michael Oates of the SPA on January 30.
He had heard a talk that I gave on January 29 about my
discovery of SOHO-97 and decided to try it himself. He wasn't aware of the
real time movie loops and so downloaded individual high resolution frames and made a
movie himself. Looking at the sequence he spotted the moving image of the Kreutz
fragment, however he was beaten to it by Maik Meyer. He has posted some images of the
comet on the SPA web page.

SOHO-99 (2000 B7) was also discovered by Maik Meyer, and almost simulataneously by Terry Lovejoy.
Maik has provided an account of the discovery of his two comets.

Three more comets, including SOHO-100 were discovered between February 3 and 5 on
LASCO C2 frames, moving
in similar trajectories diagonally across the upper left quadrant. There seems to be
a swarm of these objects, with a fourth discovered by Michael Oates and visible on the
C2 images from 18:54 - 20:44 on February 7.

SOHO-104 (2000 C6) was a Kreutz fragment discovered by Terry Lovejoy on February 9.

On the same IAUC Biesecker also reports observations (measures by D. Hammer and
himself, reductions by B. G. Marsden) of some older Kreutz
sungrazing comets seen in SOHO C3 data; full astrometry and
parabolic orbital elements appear on the MPECs indicated below.
Comet C/1999 O2 developed a short tail, C/1999 O3 had a short tail
evident, C/1999 Q3 showed a tail, and C/1999 R3 showed evidence for
a tail; the other four comets showed no evident tail. Comets
C/1999 O2 and C/1999 P4 were discovered by D. Lewis, C/1999 P5 by
A. Vourlidas, C/1999 Q2 and C/1999 R3 by K. Schenk, and C/1999 Q3
by Biesecker, while comets C/1999 O3 and C/1999 Q1 were first noted
by T. Lovejoy via the SOHO Web page.

On IAUC 7383 [2000 March 17], D. A. Biesecker reported observations
(measures by D. Hammer and himself, reductions by B. G. Marsden) of
four more tailless, Kreutz sungrazing comets seen in SOHO C3 data,
during 1999 September, which were discovered by K. Schenk, except
for C/1999 R4, which was first noted by T. Lovejoy via the SOHO Web page.

1999 J6 SOHO (IAUC 7386, 2000 March 24)
On IAUC 7386 [2000 March 24] D. A. Biesecker reported
observations (measures by D. Hammer and himself, reductions by
B. G. Marsden) of four more comets seen in 1999 SOHO data, all but
C/1999 J6 being presumed Kreutz sungrazers. Comets C/1999 J6
(visible in both C2 and C3 data) and C/1999 U5 (visible in only
the C3 telescope) show no tail. However, C/1999 W1 and C/1999 Y3,
which were both visible with only the C2 telescope, did show tails.
Selected V magnitudes from Biesecker for C/1999 J6: May 10.750 UT,
8.1; 10.833, 7.3; 10.935, 6.5; 11.088, 5.9; 11.269, 5.5, 11.338,
4.9; 11.462, 5.1. Comet C/1999 J6 was first noted by M. Oates
in archival data via the SOHO Web page on ? 2000 March 20;
C/1999 U5 and C/1999 W1 were discovered by
Biesecker, and C/1999 Y3 was discovered by A. Vourlidas of the SOHO
team.

On the same IAUC Doug Biesecker also reported observations
of four additional Kreutz sungrazing comets detected by SOHO
in the first few months of 2000. Comet C/2000 B5 (SOHO-96) was discovered by
Biesecker on January 18; the other three comets were found by several people
browsing the SOHO web site, as follows: C/2000 B6 (SOHO-98), M. Meyer, T.
Lovejoy, J. Shanklin, and M. Oates; C/2000 B7 (SOHO-99), Meyer and Lovejoy;
C/2000 D3 (SOHO-105), Meyer and K. Cernis. C/2000 D3 was visible with both
the C2 and C3 telescopes and showed a short tail; the other three
comets showed no apparent tail and were visible only in the C3
data.

I discovered SOHO-110 (2000 F1) from the IOA in Cambridge, whilst updating these web pages!
I'd looked at the C3 images and had set the C2 movie to download. Whilst it was
doing this I started editing the main index and then spotted what might be a Kreutz
fragment on the loop which had started to run in the background. I emailed the
observing group (sorry about the wrong subject header) and almost immediately got
a message back from Maik Meyer saying that he had also spotted the object. It
was visible from 04:30 to 07:31 and my discovery was made at 09:09.

SOHO-111 (2000 H2) The brightest Kreutz sungrazer for some time was discovered on
April 28.51 by Terry Lovejoy, Mike Boschat, Michael Oates and R Gorelli on images
from the SOHO website. The comet was observed in both the C2 and C3 SOHO
telescopes, and a tail at least 0.5 deg long was visible. The
comet evidently became brighter than mag 1, but at peak brightness,
the coma saturated the CCD detector.

Doug Biesecker found SOHO-113 on May 09 whilst testing his automated search routine in
situations where the satellite was rolled. This object was found in data from 1999
February 6.10, about 24 hours in front of SOHO-58.

SOHO-114 was discovered by Kazimieras Cernis on May 09.73, about 5' east of Saturn
on C3 frames. It appeared on C2 frames between 01:26 and 05:26 on May 10. This
is the 100th Kreutz fragment found by SOHO.
The IUAC quotes: D. A. Biesecker, Emergent Information Technologies, Inc., and
Goddard Space Flight Center, reports observations of two more
Kreutz sungrazing comets found in SOHO LASCO C3 data. C/1999 C2
was found by Biesecker, and no tail is evident. C/2000 J3 was
found by K. Cernis and M. Boschat via the SOHO website; it is also
visible in C2 data, where a tail is evident, and Cernis estimates
m_1 about 7 on May 9.9 UT. [IAUC 7422, 2000 May 11]

SOHO-115 was discovered by Michael Oates on May 15 at 06:25 UT on C2 frames between
02:06 and 06:26 and is fairly easy to see moving towards the Sun from the bottom of
the frame. The comet was also discovered by Xavier Leprette at around the same time.
The IAUC quotes: D. A. Biesecker, Emergent Information Technologies, Inc., and
Goddard Space Flight Center, reports observations of another Kreutz
sungrazing comet found by M. Oates and X. Leprette in LASCO C2 data
beginning on May 14.90 at the SOHO website. The comet is also visible
in C3 data, and a very short tail is visible. [IAUC 7426, 2000 May 19]

2000 K3 SOHO
SOHO-116 (2000 K3) was discovered by Mike Boschat on May 20 on C2 frames beginning
at May 19.89. Michael
Oates made an independent discovery, but it had already been announced on the web.

2000 J5 SOHO
SOHO-117 (2000 J5) was discovered by Michael Oates on May 21 in C2 archival data from
May 11.81. This data was not down loaded in real time and hence the comet escaped detection.

2000 K4 SOHO
SOHO-118 (2000 K4) was discovered by Michael Oates in real time C2 data on May 22
beginning at May 22.58.
Xavier Leprette made an independent discovery, although it had already been announced
on the web.

2000 K5 SOHO
SOHO-119 (2000 K5) was discovered by Michael Boschat and Michael Oates on C2 data
from May 25 beginning at May 25.98.

The discoveries were announced on IAUC 7433 [2000 May 30]:
D. A. Biesecker, Emergent Information Technologies, Inc., and
Goddard Space Flight Center, reports observations of four
additional Kreutz sungrazing comets detected by SOHO with the LASCO
C2 telescope. The comets were found via the SOHO website by M.
Oates (C/2000 J5, C/2000 K4, C/2000 K5) and by M. Boschat (C/2000
K3, C/2000 K5). All but C/2000 K5 showed a tail, those of C/2000
K3 and C/2000 K4 being noted as short.

1998 V1 SOHO
SOHO-121 (1998 V1) was discovered by D Hammer using the automated search routine on
data from 1998 November 4 in C2 and C3 data.

The discovery announcement appeared on IAUC 7435 [2000 June 2]
D. A. Biesecker, Emergent Information Technologies, Inc., and
Goddard Space Flight Center, reports SOHO observations, beginning on 1998
November 4.15 of another
Kreutz sungrazing comet discovered by D. Hammer and Biesecker using
the automated search algorithm developed by Biesecker. The comet,
which showed a tail, was seen in both the C2 and C3 telescopes.
Biesecker also reports observations of another Kreutz
sungrazing comet found via the SOHO website by M. Oates, X.
Leprette, and M. Boschat. The comet, which showed no tail, was
visible in the C2 telescope only from May 27.09.

SOHO-122 was discovered by Michael Oates on 2000 June 6 in archival C2 images from
1999 May 7. It follows a nearly parallel path to SOHO-62, but is a few hours earlier.
That evening he checked further images from May 1999 and found a further four comets!
Not content with that he then checked a missing block of data from June 2000 and
found another one. This is an all time record for cometary discoveries in 24 hours.
Congratulations to Michael. Michael has a
web page showing his discovies.

Another batch of archival SOHO finds was made the weekend of June 9 - 10 with Michael
spotting another five. There were also two real time finds.

These were announced on IAUC 7439 [2000 June 14]:
D. A. Biesecker, Emergent Information Technologies, Inc., and
Goddard Space Flight Center, reports observations of thirteen
additional Kreutz sungrazing comets detected by SOHO with the C2
telescope, with measurements by D. Hammer and Biesecker (the
reductions and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appearing on the
MPECs specified below). None of the objects showed a tail. All of
the comets were found via the SOHO website by M. Oates except for
C/2000 L2, which was found by M. Boschat; Boschat and X. Leprette
also found C/2000 L3.

On June 14 SOHO-135 was discovered on C2 by Michael Boschat, Maik Meyer
and Xavier Leprette. I had looked a few minutes earlier, but failed to
spot the comet. Michael Oates discovered another two archival SOHO comets
from May 1998 on June 15 (SOHO-136 and 137).

For me success came again on June 15. I had been into Cambridge to set up a display
for the Cambridge Natural History Society Conversazione (an annual exhibition) and had
then gone home to mend a puncture. On returning to work I started to download the
latest real-time movie sequence, but then had to extract some images of meteorological
equipment for a colleague. On returning to the movie I initially didn't spot
anything, but then saw the Kreutz group object moving towards the sun from the bottom
right hand corner of the image. I quickly sent out a message and at almost the same
time got a message from Michael Boschat saying that he had also found it. Michael
Oates sent a message saying that he was just downloading the images and we had beaten
him to it. I then measured the positions and sent them off to Doug. (SOHO-138)

I only just missed 142 as I'd looked around that time but hadn't noticed the object.

June 19/20 was another busy day for Michael Oates, setting a new record of seven comets
in 24 hours.

I made an independent discovery of SOHO-169 in the closing moments of the 2nd test
against the West Indies. I downloaded the C2 loop and in the interval between overs had a
quick look and spotted a Kreutz comet moving into the frame on images from 16:00
onwards. I mailed Doug at 17:50 and in the meantime England inched towards victory. I
downloaded the C3 and spotted a comet moving in towards the sun since 08:42 and
deduced that it was probably the same one and had already been discovered. England won
and I sent another message to Doug and then lightning struck the local area and there was
a power glitch and everything went down. I restarted the PC and then checked Doug and
Maik's page to find that SOHO-169 had been discovered on C3 by Maik. Then there was
another lightning hit and I took the hint to quit before the computer blew up. This was my
first discovery from home and although not an original one it is nice to make an
independent find. I also made an independent discovery of 171 on July 2, originally not knowing
about Terry's find, but on checking noted that it had been found on July 1 so thought it might
be a different object.

D. A. Biesecker, Emergent Information Technologies, Inc., and Goddard
Space Flight Center, reports observations of twelve more Kreutz sungrazing
comets detected with the SOHO/LASCO C2 coronagraph. The 1998 and 1999
comets were found by M. Oates from archival data in the SOHO website.
The 2000 comets were found in current data in the website by M. Meyer
(C/2000 M3), by Meyer and M. Boschat (C/2000 M4) and by A. Mimeev and
P. Shkreby (C/2000 M5). Positions have been measured by D. Hammer (in
collaboration with Biesecker in the case of the very faint and diffuse
object C/2000 M3) and reduced by B. G. Marsden. Discovery positions follow.
The complete measurements and orbital elements are given on MPEC 2000-N26.
[IAUC 7452, 2000 July 11]

Following the item on IAUC 7453, three more Kreutz sungrazing
comets (1999 H5, 2000 M9, 2000 N1) have been detected with the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs
(C2 alone for the first, both C3 and C2 for the others). Detections were by M. Oates
(in archival data), by M. Meyer, and by T. Lovejoy and M. Boschat,
respectively. Discovery positions follow. Details are on MPEC 2000-N34. [IAUC 7458,
2000 July 14]

Further to IAUC 7458, D. Hammer provides measurements of four
comets found by M. Oates (1999 G5, 1999 H7, 1999 J12, 1999 X2)
in archival images obtained in 1999 with
the SOHO C2 telescope only and of one comet found by M. Meyer (2000 N2) in
real-time SOHO C3 telescope data. The discovery observations for
these Kreutz sungrazers are given below, while MPEC 2000-O10
contains the fully reduced observations and orbital elements (by
B. G. Marsden). [IAUC 7459, 2000 July 20]
Addendum. On IAUC 7459, it should be added that P. Shkreby
also independently found C/2000 N2 in real-time SOHO website data.
[IAUC 7481, 2000 August 24]

On IAUC 7479 D Hammer reported the measurements of two more Kreutz
sungrazing comets found by M. Boschat in SOHO C3 website images,
with the discovery positions given below. MPEC 2000-Q08 contains
the reductions and orbital elements by Marsden. [2000 August 21]

Comet 2000 T1 (SOHO)
Further to IAUC 7445 and 7480, D. Biesecker reports
measurements for a Kreutz sungrazing comet found by J. Danaher in
LASCO C3 images at the SOHO website. Biesecker provides some V
magnitudes (estimated uncertainties 0.1 mag): Oct. 10.096 UT, 7.1;
10.221, 6.6; 10.263, 6.4; 10.321, 6.3. The reduced positions and
parabolic orbit by B. G. Marsden are given on MPEC 2000-T33. [IAUC 7506,
2000 October 10] A small fragment followed this comet and both were
visible in C2.

2000 UT R.A. (2000) Decl.
Oct. 9.821 12 29.0 - 8 45

COMETS C/1999 U6, C/2000 T3, C/2000 T4 (SOHO)
Further to IAUC 7445 and 7480, D. Hammer reports measurements
for three more Kreutz sungrazing comets. All were visible in the
LASCO C2 coronagraph, and C/2000 T4 was also seen in C3 images.
C/1999 U6, C/2000 T3, and C/2000 T4 were found by M. Oates, D.
Biesecker, and J. Danaher, respectively. The reduced positions and
orbits by B. G. Marsden are given on MPEC 2000-T46. [IAUC 7508, 2000 October 16]

SOHO 2000 U1 to U4 were numbered on MPEC 2000-U38
Further to IAUC 7508, D. Biesecker and D. Hammer report the
discoveries of four additional Kreutz sungrazing comets. All four
were visible in the LASCO C2 coronagraph, and C/2000 U2 and C/2000
U3 were also seen in C3 images. C/2000 U1 and C/2000 U4 were found
by M. Oates; C/2000 U2 was found by M. Boschat; and C/2000 U3 was
found by J. Danaher. C/2000 U1 was described as faint, with no
tail evident. C/2000 U2 was fairly bright, with a long, thin tail.
The measurements were made by Hammer, and the reduced positions and
orbits by B. G. Marsden are given on MPEC 2000-U38. [IAUC 7514, 2000
November 1]

Further to IAUC 7514 and 7485, D. Hammer reports his
measurements for eight additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found on
SOHO website images. Comet C/1997 T7 was found by X. Leprette; the
other seven objects were found by M. Oates. All eight comets were
seen in the C2 coronagraph, but only only C/1999 V2 was also
visible with the C3 instrument. The reduced observations and
orbital elements by B. G. Marsden are given on the MPECs cited
below. [IAUC 7517, 2000 November 6]

Further to IAUC 7514 and 7485, D. Hammer reports his
measurements for several additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found
by M. Oates on SOHO website images obtained with the C2 coronagraph.
The reduced observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden are
given on the MPECs cited below.
[IAUC 7519, 2000 November 15]

Further to IAUC 7519, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
several additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found on SOHO website
images obtained with the C2 coronagraph; the Nov. comets were found
by M. Oates, and the Dec. comets were found by X. Leprette. The
reduced observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden are
given on the MPECs cited below. Regarding IAUC 7519 and MPEC
2000-V36, D. A. Biesecker informs us that he is not confident of
the existence of comet C/1997 U6 (separated from C/1997 U5 by only
1' in position and by 0.01 day in T).
[IAUC 7534, 2000 December 2]

Further to IAUC 7534, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
several additional sungrazing comets found by X. Leprette (1997
comets) and by M. Oates (remaining comets) on SOHO website images
obtained with the C2 coronagraph. The reduced observations and
orbital elements by B. G. Marsden are given on the MPECs cited below.
[IAUC 7536, 2000 December 5]